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New pictures offer the best look to date of an Air Force HC-130J Combat King II combat search and rescue aircraft (CSAR) carrying an Angry Kitten electronic warfare pod. Originally developed to simulate enemy electronic warfare attacks during training and testing, Angry Kitten has been evolving into a system that could help protect friendly aircraft from those threats during real combat missions. Pairing HC-130Js and the pods is now being eyed as part of the answer to an increasingly vexing question of how to provide adequate CSAR coverage for future operations in and around heavily contested airspace.

Fred Taleghani of FreddyB Aviation Photography caught the HC-130J Combat King II with the Angry Kitten pod flying around Point Mugu, California, back on September 11. The aircraft in question belongs to the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing, which is based at Moffett Federal Airfield, situated some 275 miles to the northwest. HC-130Js can support CSAR missions in various ways, including by helping to deploy pararescuemen, refueling HH-60W Jolly Green IIs and other helicopters, as well as Osprey tilt-rotors, in mid-air, and acting as airborne command and control nodes.

The Angry Kitten pod is seen mounted via a Special Airborne Mission Installation and Response (SABIR) system installed in place of the HC-130J’s left rear paratrooper door. SABIR includes a pylon on an arm that can be extended below the aircraft’s fuselage while in flight, giving whatever is loaded onto it a more unobstructed field of view. The replacement paratrooper door also features an enlarged observer’s window. It can be fitted with a chute for launching sonobouys, smoke markers, and other similar tubular payloads, though it is not clear if that capability is installed on this Combat King II. The port for the chute is visible, but it may be blanked off. The U.S. military and foreign armed forces use SABIR as a relatively simple way to integrate other sensors and systems onto different C-130 variants, as you can read more about here.

The Angry Kitten-toting HC-130J is understood to have been in the Point Mugu area at the time to take part in the U.S. Navy-led Gray Flag 2025 test and evaluation exercise, which ran between September 5 and 19. It was staged out of Naval Base Ventura County and involved sorties over the expansive Point Mugu Sea Range. Gray Flags are regularly used to showcase new and improved munitions and other advanced capabilities, such as electronic warfare systems, including ones that are still in development. Units from across the U.S. military, as well as key American allies, routinely take part. Combat King IIs have participated in these exercises in the past.

As noted, Angry Kitten is not new. Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) began development of the podded system in 2013, and it first started flying under the wings of F-16 Viper fighters in 2017. Angry Kitten is an outgrowth of the AN/ALQ-167 electronic warfare pod, variants of which have been in use for decades, primarily to mimic hostile electronic warfare threats for training and testing purposes. There are also documented examples of AN/ALQ-167s being used on aircraft during actual combat missions, at least on an ad hoc basis.

Unlike the older AN/ALQ-167s, Angry Kitten is designed to be more readily modifiable and updatable to more rapidly adapt in parallel with the threat ecosystem. This is enabled in part by advanced Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) technology, which allows radio frequency (RF) signals to be detected and ‘captured,’ as well as manipulated and retransmitted. Electronic warfare systems that use DRFM can project signals from hostile radars (and radar seekers on missiles) back at them to create false or otherwise confusing tracks. Data collected via DRFM can also be used to help improve and refine the system’s capabilities, as well as for other intelligence exploitation purposes.

In general, electronic warfare systems need to be able to accurately detect, categorize, and respond to waveforms based on information contained in their built-in threat libraries to work most effectively. This, in turn, requires specialists to routinely reprogram systems to keep them as up to date as possible. Automating and otherwise shortening that process at every step of the way by developing what are known as cognitive electronic warfare capabilities has become a major area of interest for the entire U.S. military. The absolute ‘holy grail’ of that concept is an electronic warfare system capable of adapting its programming autonomously in real-time, even in the middle of a mission, as you can read more about here.

With all this in mind, and given prior operational use of the AN/ALQ-167, it’s not hard to see how interest has grown in using Angry Kitten to help shield friendly aircraft from threats during real-world missions.

“We had a jammer called ‘Angry Kitten.’ It was built to be an adversary air jamming tool,” now-retired Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly, then commander of Air Combat Command (ACC), told TWZ and other outlets back in 2022. “And all of a sudden, the blue team said, ‘you know, hey, we kind of need that, can we have that for us?’ And so I see this iterating and testing our way into this.”

To date, in addition to F-16s and HC-130s, Angry Kitten is known to have flown on Air Force A-10 Warthog ground attack jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones, as well as Navy F/A-18s fighters. As of March, the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center (AATC) said there were plans to at least evaluate the pod on KC-135 and KC-46 aerial refueling tankers.

It’s also interesting to note the parallels here with the U.S. Marine Corps’ Intrepid Tiger II electronic warfare system, which has been fielded in different podded forms for the AV-8B Harrier jump jet and the UH-1Y Venom armed light utility helicopter. A roll-on/roll-off version for the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor is in development, and there are plans to integrate the capability in some form onto the KC-130J tanker/transport. Different variants of Intrepid Tiger also offer degrees of secondary intelligence-gathering capabilities.

AATC has also explicitly highlighted the potential benefits of combining Angry Kitten with the HC-130J in the context of the CSAR mission.

“Angry Kitten pod is showing promising results in protecting larger radar cross-section (RCS) platforms that traditionally lack robust electronic warfare capabilities,” according to a release AATC put out in March. “This success is particularly significant for combat search and rescue platforms that often operate in contested environments without electronic warfare protection.”

“We had minimal hopes for what we could do for larger body aircraft, but it’s showing that we actually have good effects,” Chris Culver, an electronic warfare engineer involved in the work, had said.

For years now, TWZ has been highlighting growing concerns about the basic feasibility of traditional fixed-wing CSAR aircraft and helicopters performing their mission amid a threat ecosystem that is steadily expanding in scale and scope. Future high-end fights, such as one against China in the Pacific, will involve air operations in areas where even stealthy platforms are expected to be increasingly at risk. In 2022, the Air Force announced it was scaling back purchases of new HH-60W CSAR helicopters in light of this reality. Top service officials have talked in the past about having to approach this still critical mission set differently going forward.

“There are a lot of other assets around that, if somebody goes down at sea, for example, we could use to pick them up,” then-Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in 2023. “We’re going to do it [the CSAR mission] with existing assets, either our own or provided by other military departments.”

Many of these same general concerns apply to the Air Force’s existing non-stealthy KC-135 and KC-46 tanker fleets. Air Force officials regularly point to add-on defensive capabilities, which might include Angry Kitten, as one near-term option for increasing the survivability of its key aerial refueling assets.

Integrating Angry Kitten on larger aircraft could have other implications as another important stepping stone for new cognitive electronic warfare capabilities.

“The C-130 testing features innovative real-time updates to electronic warfare techniques,” according to the AATC release in March. “Unlike the F-16 tests, where pre-programmed mission data files were used, the C-130 testing includes development engineers aboard the aircraft who can modify jamming techniques mid-mission based on feedback from range control.”

“They are making changes [in] real-time to the techniques and pushing updates to the pod, seeing the change in real-time,” Culver, the electronic warfare engineer, had also said. “This approach allows for rapid optimization of jamming techniques against various threat systems.”

A follow-on Advanced Test and Training Capability (ATTACK) pod, also referred to unofficially as Angry Kitten Increment 2 Block 2, is also now in the works. The “next-generation system will feature a complete hardware refresh, transitioning from analog to digital receivers for improved sensitivity and frequency agility,” according to AATC.

Altogether, the HC-130J seen carrying the Angry Kitten pod around Point Mugu earlier this month is an important sign of things to come.

Contact the author: [email protected]

The U.S. Air Force is working to combine an aerial target designed to simulate ballistic threats and a liquid-fuel rocket motor into a new, lower-cost hypersonic missile dubbed Angry Tortoise. The first test launch of the experimental design is expected to come by the end of the year. The project reflects growing interest across the U.S. military in pursuing new avenues to field hypersonic weapons, and to do so affordably, after years of persistent struggles in this realm.

Angry Tortoise broke cover at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference earlier this week, at which TWZ was in attendance. Aerospace firm Usra Major has confirmed to us that a contract it received from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in May, valued at close to $28.6 million, is for this particular effort. Neither the project’s name nor its explicit focus was disclosed at the time, though the expected end result was described as a “tactical flight demonstrator.”

The Angry Tortoise project “works by leveraging partnerships with commercial companies to integrate their existing technologies into Department of War (DoW) weapon systems, enabling rapid delivery of new capabilities,” according to an information card AFRL had available at the conference this week. “The integrated advancements made through the Angry Tortoise project will provide the warfighter with the ability to deliver quick, precise strikes on both stationary and moving targets, giving military commanders more options to counter threats. The project’s focus on public-private partnerships is crucial to accelerating the delivery of these new capabilities by combining commercial innovation with AFRL’s technical expertise and resources.”

The key element of the current Angry Tortoise design is the 4,000-pound-thrust-class Draper rocket motor, a closed-cycle hydrogen peroxide-kerosene design. Despite being liquid-fueled, Draper can be stored for extended periods of time at room temperature. Most commonly used liquid rocket fuels are volatile and corrosive, which limits how long rocket motors that use them can be left ready-to-fire. This also typically makes them more hazardous to handle after being fueled. This has long made more stable solid-fuel rocket motors attractive for military applications, especially when it comes to tactical weapons, despite the performance advantages liquid-fueled types offer.

Usra Major describes Draper as a “tactical” derivative of an earlier design called Hadley, which uses a more traditional fuel mixture with liquid oxygen as its oxidizer. Hadley is notably the rocket motor that powers Stratolauch’s Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle. Usra Major developed both Hadley and Draper in cooperation with AFRL. The origins of Angry Tortoise lie in these developments.

“It started off as, they had an application [for the rocket motor work] for space access applications,” John Remen, the strategic engagement lead for AFRL’s Aerospace Systems Directorate, told TWZ correspondent Hope Hodge Seck in an interview on the floor of this week’s conference. “We were challenged to look at, hey, we want to change this paradigm in hypersonics and affordable mass, to be able to put more mass on target at low cost, effectively, and so forth. What ideas do you guys have that can do this?”

“And we were, like, hey, you know, this is right in the right thrust class,” he continued. “This is the right size, it’s additively manufactured, low-cost. And so, hey, let’s brainstorm. What could we do in terms of a quick demonstration to show some kind of a tactical missile application?”

Angry Tortoise combines Draper with the front half of an existing rocket called the Economical Target-2 (ET-2), produced by Teledyne Brown, according to an earlier story from Avaition Week. Standard ET-2s, which the U.S. military currently uses to simulate ballistic missiles as part of test and evaluation activities, use solid-fuel rocket motors.

“So, what we’re doing is basically taking the back half of it [off], and had to use a new outer shell and everything, because we now have liquid propellant tanks on the inside, the thrust take-out for the engine, and so forth,” AFRL’s Remen explained.

AFRL and Ursa Major are now aiming to launch Angry Tortoise for the first time at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico in December. The Draper rocket motor has already been hot-fired more than 300 times in ground-based testing.

The expectation is that the missile will be able to reach speeds of up to around Mach 4 or Mach 5, with Mach 5 typically considered to be the boundary between high-supersonic and hypersonic speed. Angry Tortoise is only expected to reach around Mach 2 during its first test flight due in part to the physical limitations of WSMR. Though WSMR is a sprawling range complex, hypersonic systems can fly so far so fast that they often ‘out-range’ even larger facilities on land.

“In 2026, we’re going to fly that system long-range in the Pacific,” Dan Jablonsky, Ursa Major’s CEO, said at the opening to a separate panel at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference.

In terms of the Angry Tortoise project’s immediate goals, it is important to stress that it is presently a science and technology demonstration effort. At the same time, there is a clear eye toward seeing if this is a viable pathway to an operational weapon, and one that could be readily produced at scale at a reasonable price point.

AFRL is hoping to prove out “the performance, the capability, range capabilities, and so forth, just the fact that we can do a low-cost, quick manufacturer [design]. Like I said, it’s additively manufactured, so that speeds up the processes and so forth. You can actually just add a bunch of more machines on the line to put out more systems,” AFRL’s Remen said. For the “space application, might need 20 a year or 30 a year. But the DoD says, hey, no, I need 300 a year. Okay. How can I get that spun up?”

“It’s all TBD of okay, yeah, it was successful, what are we going to do with it from a military standpoint?” he continued. “Our job is to define and help them, help [Air Force] leadership, understand, here’s the art of the possible.”

Remen said that multiple unspecified commands had expressed interest in Angry Tortoise and the capabilities that could be gained from the project. He also noted that the design could well further evolve and that future iterations might be significantly different, including using solid-fuel rocket motors. As an AFRL project, one would imagine the service is eyeing this as a starting place for an air-launched weapon, but it might be adaptable to ground and/or sea-launched modes, as well.

In terms then of unit price, “it’s really going to go to what are you trying to do, and … what do you consider as a reasonable cost?” he added. “You know, we have a warfighting mission, so I’ve got to win the war. Sometimes it doesn’t necessarily matter how much it costs, because I’ve got to win the war, because losing the war is far more costly than it is to win the war.”

“At approx. 60% additively manufactured, Draper costs significantly less than other hypersonic propulsion alternatives,” Ursa Major also told TWZ in response to queries for more information.

At the same time, Angry Tortoise reflects a frustration with the current state of U.S. hyperosonic weapons development and their costs. “The project’s moniker jokingly references the Air Force’s struggle to keep up with international competitors in the affordable hypersonic missile field,” Aviation Week reported, citing Nils Sedano, a technical advisor in the Space Access Branch of AFRL’s Rocket Propulsion Division.

“I mean, you got your hypersonic missiles, like your HAWCs and so forth, 10s of millions of dollars and such [each],” AFRL’s Remen said. “We’re trying to be a lot lower cost in that, but it also may not be as capable.”

HAWC is the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, a project the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency conducted in cooperation with AFRL, which has fed into the Air Force’s current Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program. HACM, an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile, is expected to fly in the upcoming fiscal year after suffering delays.

In its latest budget proposal for the 2026 Fiscal Year, the Air Force confirmed plans to reboot work on the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), which the service had previously moved to shelve following years of checkered test results. The stated plan had been to refocus resources on HACM. ARRW is in a different category of hypersonic weapon from HACM, and is designed to launch an unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, as you can learn more about here.

U.S. Army and U.S. Navy hypersonic weapons plans have suffered their own significant setbacks in recent years.

The Navy revealed earlier this year that it had halted work entirely on its Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) program, another air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile effort, in late 2024. The service blamed “budgetary constraints” and said it would “revalidate the requirements, with an emphasis on affordability.”

The Army also now has its own program, called Blackbeard, geared explicitly toward accelerating the development, and hopefully fielding, of a lower-cost hypersonic missile.

All of this comes as China, in particular, is at least investing heavily in expanding its arsenal of multiple categories of hypersonic weapons. A number of new designs broke cover ahead of a huge military parade in Beijing on September 3, as you can read more about in TWZ past reporting here.

Russia’s Zircon sea-launched hypersonic air-breathing cruise missile has also now been demonstrated in combat in Ukraine. Russian forces have also used Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, which reach hypersonic speeds in the terminal phase of flight, in strikes on Ukrainian targets.

“As Secretary [of the Air Force Troy] Meink emphasized on Monday, we have to innovate faster,” Ursa Major’s CEO Jablonsky said at the panel this week. “The only way we’re going to be able to maintain our advantage is to innovate, and we have to innovate faster than our adversaries. As we think about the current threat environment, our own arsenal, our own strategic capabilities, we must face the reality that our adversaries are moving faster than we are.”

Ursa Major and AFRL are now presenting Angry Tortoise as one way to try to help change that paradigm.

Contact the author: [email protected]

The Great British Sewing Bee returned to BBC One for the series finale on Tuesday night

The Great British Sewing Bee fans had the same complaint as the BBC One show clashed with the return of The Great British Bake Off.

The sewing contest was on at 9pm on Tuesday (September 2), which meant it coincided with the first episode of the new series of the baking show on Channel 4, reports the Express. The culinary programme made its return at 8pm for a feature-length debut episode.

The clash saw many fans flock to social media to express their annoyance.

One viewer wrote on X: “Would be interested to see stats on how many viewers switch over from Bake Off on Channel 4 to BBC1 for Sewing Bee at 9! Who decided a b***** overlap was a good idea?”

Another viewer wrote, ” I’m Glad [GBBO] is back, but I wish it didn’t overlap with Sewing Bee.”

“UNACCEPTABLE OVERLAP,” vented someone else.

A third viewer commented: “I’m more annoyed about the clash of Bake Off and Sewing Bee.”

However, not all viewers were upset. One person shared: “Great British Bake Off followed by Sewing Bee!!! Life doesn’t get any better!”

Meanwhile, another said: “Great British Bake Off and Sewing Bee both in one night, Luvley Jubbly! Enjoy your evening, all.”

The Sewing Bee is in its eighth week, and the five surviving hopefuls embarked on a cinematic journey, with three tasks drawing inspiration from iconic film moments of yesteryear.

During the pattern round, judges Esme Young and Patrick Grant challenged the finalists to recreate the blazer sported by Tippi Hedren’s character in Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary thriller The Birds.

For the transformation task, the seamsters received tiebacks and crimson theatre drapes and were challenged to convert the material into spectacular ensembles worthy of a Tinseltown premiere.

During the made-to-measure portion of the show, the participants were required to craft an ensemble for a horror film character.

The Great British Sewing Bee airs on BBC One and Bake Off is on Channel 4.

Liberians are expressing confusion and anger after United States President Donald Trump praised the English skills of their country’s President Joseph Boakai.

“Such good English,” Trump said to Boakai at the White House on Wednesday, with visible surprise. “Such beautiful English.”

English has been the West African nation’s official language since the 1800s. But Trump did not stop there.

“Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” he continued, as Boakai murmured a response. “Where were you educated? Where? In Liberia?”

The exchange took place during a meeting in the White House between Trump and five West African leaders, amid a pivot from aid to trade in US foreign policy.

Liberia has had deep ties with Washington for centuries, stemming from the drive to relocate freed slaves from the US.

Foday Massaquio, chairman of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change-Council of Patriots, said that while the remarks were typical of Trump’s engagement with foreign leaders, what some saw as a condescending tone was amplified by the fact that the leaders were African.

“As a matter of fact, it also proves that the West is not taking us seriously as Africans,” he said. “President Trump was condescending; he was very disrespectful to the African leader.”

Kula Fofana, spokesperson for Boakai’s office, told the Associated Press news agency: “I believe that as journalists, it is important to focus on the substantive discussions at the summit.”

“We find it a good thing that President Trump is commending our president for his way of speaking and the clarity he provided during the meeting,” she added. “However, we look forward to achieving the substantive request specifically engaging in a stronger bilateral relationship with the United States.”

Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Liberia’s foreign minister, said on X that “President Trump’s comment on Boakai’s ‘beautiful English’ simply acknowledged Liberia’s familiar American-rooted accent and no offence was taken”.

“Our linguistic heritage is deeply American‑influenced, & this was simply recognised by Donald Trump. We remain committed to strengthening Liberia‑US ties, built on mutual respect, shared values, and meaningful partnership,” the minister said.

Close relationship in the past

But for others, Trump’s comments added to the sense of betrayal that became palpable in Liberia in recent months.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration dissolved the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and said it was no longer following what it called “a charity-based foreign aid model”.

That decision sent shock waves across Liberia, where US support made up almost 2.6 percent of the gross national income, the highest percentage anywhere in the world, according to the Center for Global Development.

Liberians thought they would be spared from Trump’s cuts because of the countries’ close relationship. Their political system is modelled on that of the US, along with its flag. Liberians often refer to the US as their “big brother”.

Liberia was one of the first countries to receive USAID support, starting in 1961. Its street signs, taxis and school buses resemble those in New York.

“Liberia is a longstanding friend of the USA, therefore Trump should have understood that we speak English as an official language,” said Moses Dennis, 37, a businessman from Monrovia. He added that Boakai did not go to Washington for “an English-speaking competition”.

‘Condescending and ridiculing’

Dennis’s views were echoed by Siokin Civicus Barsi-Giah, a close associate of Liberia’s former President George Weah.

“Liberia is an English-speaking country,” he said. “Former slaves and slave owners decided to organise themselves to let go of many people who were in slavery in the United States of America, and they landed on these shores now called the Republic of Liberia.”

For him, the exchange was “condescending and ridiculing”.

“Joseph Boakai was not praised. He was mocked by the greatest president in the world, who is leading the greatest country in the world,” he said.

Some, however, said that given Trump’s style, Wednesday’s remarks were meant as praise.

“To some, the comment may carry a whiff of condescension, echoing a longstanding Western tendency to express surprise when African leaders display intellectual fluency,” said Abraham Julian Wennah, director of research at the African Methodist Episcopal University. “In postcolonial contexts, language has long been weaponised to question legitimacy and competence.”

But if one looks at “Trump’s rhetorical style”, the remarks were “an acknowledgment of Boakai’s polish, intellect and readiness for global engagement”, Wennah added.

MONROVIA, Liberia — There was confusion and anger in Liberia on Thursday after President Trump praised the English skills of President Joseph Boakai.

“Such good English,” Trump said to Boakai, with visible surprise. “Such beautiful English.”

English has been the west African nation’s official language since the 1800s. But Trump did not stop there.

“Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” he continued, as Boakai murmured a response. “Where were you educated? Where? In Liberia?”

The exchange took place during a meeting in the White House between Trump and five West African leaders on Wednesday, amid a pivot from aid to trade in the U.S. foreign policy.

Liberia has had deep ties with the United States for centuries. It was first established with the aim of relocating freed slaves from the United States.

Foday Massaquio, chairman of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change-Council of Patriots, said that while the remarks were typical of Trump’s engagement with foreign leaders, what some saw as the condescending tone was amplified by the fact that the leaders were African.

“As a matter of fact, it also proves that the West is not taking us seriously as Africans,” he said. “President Trump was condescending, he was very disrespectful to the African leader.”

Kula Fofana, spokesperson for Boakai’s office, told The Associated Press: “I believe that as journalists, it is important to focus on the substantive discussions at the summit.”

Close relationship in the past

Trump’s comments added to the sense of betrayal which became palpable in Liberia in recent months.

Earlier this month, U.S. authorities dissolved theU.S. Agency for International Development and said it was no longer following what they called “a charity-based foreign aid model.”

That decision sent shockwaves across Liberia, where American support made up almost 2.6% of the gross national income, the highest percentage anywhere in the world, according to the Center for Global Development.

Liberians thought they would be spared from Trump’s cuts because of the countries’ close relationship. Their political system is modeled on that of the U.S., along with its flag. Liberians often refer to the U.S. as their “big brother.”

Liberia was one of the first countries to receive USAID support, starting in 1961. The street signs, taxis and school buses resemble those in New York.

“In the first place, Liberia is a long standing friend of the USA, therefore Trump should have understood that we speak English as an official language,” said Moses Dennis, 37, a businessman from Monrovia. He added that Boakai did not go to Washington for “an English speaking competition.”

‘Condescending and ridiculing’

His views were echoed by Siokin Civicus Barsi-Giah, a leadership expert and a close associate of former President George Weah.

“Liberia is an English speaking country,” he said. “Former slaves and slave owners decided to organize themselves to let go of many people who were in slavery in the United States of America, and they landed on these shores now called the Republic of Liberia.”

For him, the exchange was “condescending and ridiculing.”

He added: “Joseph Boakai was not praised. He was mocked by the greatest president in the world, who is leading the greatest country in the world.”

Some however said that given Trump’s personal style, Wednesday’s remarks were meant as a praise.

“To some, the comment may carry a whiff of condescension, echoing a long-standing Western tendency to express surprise when African leaders display intellectual fluency,” said Abraham Julian Wennah the director of Research at the African Methodist Episcopal University. “In postcolonial contexts, language has long been weaponized to question legitimacy and competence.”

But if one looks at “Trump’s rhetorical style,” these remarks were “an acknowledgment of Boakai’s polish, intellect, and readiness for global engagement,” he said.

Mengonfia, Pronczuk and Mcmakin write for the Associated Press.

Millions of people are on strike across India, shutting down banking, construction, manufacturing and postal services, and disrupting public transport, among other sectors.

Trade unions say they have united to protest against new labour laws and a long-standing policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to privatise public services and favour big business over workers.

Why are people so angry with these policies?

And what does this mean for Modi’s government and his economic policies known as “Modinomics”?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Amarjeet Kaur – national secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress

Adil Hossain – political anthropologist and assistant professor at Azim Premji University

Daniel Francis – political analyst and political brand consultant

PORTO manager Martin Anselmi is reportedly set to be sacked after the club’s dismal Club World Cup form.

Porto failed to win a single game in the competition as they were dumped out in the group stages – sparking angry reaction from fans.

1

Anselmi, 39, was only appointed in January, but Portuguese outlet CMTV have reported that he is now set to be dismissed.

The manager is said to already be aware he will be sacked, despite his current deal running until 2027.

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Eric Dane is angry. Angry that he’s been hit by ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“I’m angry because my father was taken from me when I was young, and now there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls while they’re very young,” says the actor, 52, whose father fatally shot himself when Dane was just 7.

The “Euphoria” and “Grey’s Anatomy” star, who revealed his diagnosis last Tuesday, sat down with “Good Morning America” to talk about his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable degenerative neurological condition. In ALS, the muscle neurons linking the brain and spine to the muscles deteriorate, leaving the muscle with nothing able to tell them what to do or when to do it. No messages means no movement, no functioning, in systems including eating and breathing.

The actor said in an interview broadcast on Monday that it’s been about 18 months since he started experiencing symptoms. It took a series of doctors and tests before he found out he was one of the 5,000 people a year diagnosed with ALS in the United States.

“I started experiencing some weakness in my right hand and I didn’t really think anything of it at that time,” Dane told Diane Sawyer, his voice perhaps sounding a bit slower and thicker than usual. “I thought maybe I’d been texting too much or my hand was fatigued.

“But a few weeks later, I noticed that it had gotten a little worse, so I went to a hand specialist, who sent me to another hand specialist. Then I went to a neurologist, who sent me to another neurologist, who said, ‘This is way above my pay grade.’”

Nine months after consulting with the first physician, Dane had his diagnosis.

Now “those three letters” — ALS — hit him every morning when he wakes up, he said.

“I have one functioning arm … my left side is functioning,” Dane said. “My right side has completely stopped working.”

Adding to the horror, his left arm is “going,” he said. “I feel like maybe a couple, few more months and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering.”

The former competitive swimmer and water polo player recalled the moment he realized he no longer felt safe in water. He dove off a boat to snorkel with his daughter in the ocean, then couldn’t “swim and generate enough power to get myself back to the boat.” The younger of his two daughters with actor wife Rebecca Gayheart, 13-year-old Georgia, had to come to his aid.

After she dragged him back to the boat, Dane said, he sent her back out with her friend and the snorkeling guide. Meanwhile, he broke down crying.

“I was heartbroken.”

Life expectancy for people with ALS varies by age of symptom onset, type of ALS and whether a person is male or female. The overall median life expectancy from symptom onset is 30 months, according to ALS United of Greater Chicago. Some people die within a year, while others have lived 20 more years, the group said. Earlier onset seems linked to a better survival rate.

The famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who died in 2016 at age 76, is an example of someone who survived for 55 years with the disease after being diagnosed at age 21. The minds of people with ALS stay sharp even as their bodies fail.

“Killing Me Softly” singer Roberta Flack died a little more than two years after revealing her ALS diagnosis at age 85.

Dane said Gayheart has become his “biggest champion” and “most stalwart supporter” as he continues to work when he can, including on a new series, “Countdown.”

“I don’t think this is the end of my story,” he told Sawyer. “I just don’t feel like, in my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end of me. … I’m fighting as much as I can.”

BRITS struggling to live have “every right to be angry” about illegal migrants getting cushy hotel rooms, Nigel Farage said yesterday.

The Reform leader hailed The Sun’s front page for laying bare the crippling cost of asylum accommodation.

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We told the case of Stuart Whittaker – a former factory worker from Hull who is now homeless – feeling he had been “shoved to the back of the queue”.

Downing Street yesterday admitted it was “absolutely not” fair that locals like him are sofa-surfing while taxpayers fork out for migrant hotels.

Also addressing the story in Port Talbot, Mr Farage said: “What I tell your man from Hull, is he has every right to be upset.

“Every right to be angry.

“Just don’t say anything on social media or Keir Starmer will put you in prison.”

He said that while legal migration has a bigger strain on public services, it is the “sheer unfairness of these young men” coming across the Channel illegally that rubs people up.

The cost of paying for asylum support has ballooned to around £4.7billion annually, and around 15,000 migrants have arrived from France this year already.

Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said: “It’s not fair that tens of thousands of people are stuck in an asylum backlog that’s wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers money, and that’s why we’re focused on taking the action needed to reduce the number of asylum seekers and hotels.”

Minister Chris Bryant yesterday insisted that the “best deterrent” against small boats was processing asylum claims quicker.

He was slammed by Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who said: “This is dangerous nonsense from a weak Labour Government.

“Giving illegal immigrants asylum faster is no deterrent – it will just attract even more to come here.

“A real deterrent would be removing every single illegal immigrant who arrives in the UK to somewhere like Rwanda.”